More Women Getting Jobs Iran -- and Filing for Divorce

In Iran, 20 percent of the women have jobs or are looking for them, reports William Yong in The New York Times.

That ability to be self-supporting is turning the conservative Iranian society on its ear. For example, women are now pushing for divorce. One out of seven marriages ends in divorce and, in big cities, the ratio is one out of 3.7 marriages.

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Having more women in the workforce is also creating tension at a time when jobs are scarce and there is already tension between the sexes, generations, and social classes about who gets access to jobs as well as education. For example, one in four Iranians in the 16 to 25 year old demographic is unemployed. This alone could set off a backlash against women, pushing them our of the workplace and back into the home. There's more. Women outnumber males two to one in university undergraduate programs.